


X-men Musicals and other such fics

by Elliyora



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Cute Dads, F/M, Friendship, Hamilton References, Heathers: The Musical References, Sex through the walls is heard, Sexual References, Song: Beautiful (Heathers), Song: Candy Store (Heathers), Song: Dead Girl Walking, Song: Dead Girl Walking (Reprise), Song: Once Upon a December (Anastasia 1997 & Broadway), Songfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 16,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23381500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elliyora/pseuds/Elliyora
Summary: A collection of chapters inspired by musical songs. Hopefully, you will enjoy it.
Relationships: Charles Xavier/Original Female Character, Erik Lehnsherr/Magda (X-Men), Pietro Maximoff/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. Erik Lehnsherr, sir.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the story, technically.

* * *

“Pardon me, are you Erik Lehnsherr, sir?” asked Charles at the bar one night.

Erik sighed and looked up from his drink. “That depends who’s asking.”

“Oh, sure! Sir, I’m Charles Xavier, I’m at your service, sir. I have been looking for you,” Charles confessed.

“I’m getting nervous...” Erik muttered.

“Sir, I heard your name at Princeton. I was seeking an accelerated course of study when I got sort of out of sorts with a buddy of yours. I may have punched him. It’s a blur, sir,” Charles elaborated. “He handles the financials?”

“You punched the bursar.”

“Yes, I wanted to do what you did: graduate in two, then join the revolution. He looked at me like I was stupid. I’m not stupid,” Charles continued. “So, how’d you do it, how’d you graduate so fast?”

Erik sighed. Was he really gonna tell a stranger his woes? “It was my parents dying wish before they passed.”

The little gears in Charles’s head clicked. “You’re an orphan, of course. I’m an orphan. God, I wish there was a war then we could prove that we’re worth more than anyone bargained for!”

“Can I buy you a drink?” asked Erik.

“That would be nice,” Charles gave him one of his patented ‘Nice guy™’ smiles.

“While we’re talking, let me offer you some free advice,” Erik slapped a hand on Charles’s back. “Talk less.”

“What?” Charles tilted his head like a dog.

“Smile more,” Erik hummed. Charles chuckled at his statement.

“Don’t let them know what you’re against or what you’re for,” Erik glanced over to his side.

“You can’t be serious.” Charles scoffed.

“Do you want to get ahead?” he asked, to which Charles nodded. “Fools who run their mouths off wind up dead.”

The door slammed open as three more mutants waltzed into the bar one after the other, seemingly together and already slightly tipsy.

“What time is it?” asked the tallest of the trio: covered in blue fur and wearing glasses over his brown eyes.

“Showtime!” the two others yelled in response.

“Hey, I’m Hank McCoy in the place to be,” he picked up their glasses from the bar and walked over to their table. “Two pints of Sam Adams, but I’m working on three!”

The group broke out in laughter.

“Those humans don’t want it with me ‘cause I will pop chick-a pop these cops till I’m free!”

“Oui, oui, Mon amie, je m’appelle Gambit, the Lancelot of the revolutionary set,” called out the second who played with a stack of cards and sipped from his glass. “I came from afar just to say bonsoir, tell Stryker casse-toi. Who is the best? C’est moi!”

“Brrrah, brraaah I am Sean Cassidy, I’m up in it, lovin’ it, yes I heard ya mother said come again!” yelled the third who suspiciously seemed to be the loudest of the three. “Ay, lock up ya daughters and horses, of course, it’s hard to have intercourse over four sets of corsets.”

“Wow! No more sex, pour me another brew, son!” Hank smirked. “Let’s raise a couple more to the revolution.”

The other two raised their glasses and echoed his cry.

“Well if it isn’t the prodigy of Princeton college,” Hank walked over to Erik and smiled. “Erik Lehnsherr, give us a verse. Drop some knowledge.”

“Well, good luck with that, you’re taking a stand. You’ll spit, I’ll sit. We’ll see where we land,” Erik growled, quite obviously not wanting to be disturbed.

“Erik, the revolution is imminent. What do you stall for?” asked Hank.

“If you stand for nothing, Erik, what’ll you fall for?” Charles Rose from his seat and asked.

“Who are you?” asked Sean. 

“Who are you?” echoed Gambit.

“Who are you?” chimed in Hank.

“Oh, who is this kid, what’s he gonna do?” asked all three at once.


	2. Morner sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We are introduced to the sisters in the Greatest city in the world.

* * *

“There’s nothing rich folks love more than going downtown and slumming it with the poor. They pull up in their carriages and gawk at the students in the common just to watch them talk,” Erik sighed as he walked around the streets. Then, the three girls walking about caught his eye and he realised who those three lady mutants were. “Take Lilith Morner: the lady’s loaded."

" Uh-oh, but little does she know that her daughters, Lizzy, Bombus, and Mira sneak into the city just to watch all the guys at—”

“Work! Work!” all of the people in the street seemed to scream.

“Bombus!” Bombus smiled as she strutted her stuff along the streets with her tail swishing causally.

“Mira!” came her younger sister’s voice as she kept up the pace.

“And Lizzy!” called out the youngest Morner who trotted up beside her sisters to catch up.

“Guys! Mother said we need to be home soon...” Lizzy said.

“Well, mother doesn’t need to know we’re out,” Bombus replied as she continued to waltz the streets.

“But-but mother also said we need to stay away from here!”

“Well, Lizzy,” Mira spoke softly. “As I said earlier, you didn’t need to come with us if you didn’t want to.”

“Oh, but look around!” Bombus giggled. “There’s so much going on here in New York!”

“It’s bad enough daddy wants to go to war...” Lizzy sighed.

“Yeah, there will be lots of people shouting...” Mira held her little sister close.

“And with that, there’s gonna be so much violence in the streets...” Lizzy’s eyes seemed to almost have tears in them.

“Yes, there will be, darling, but think of all of the new ideas brought over. New York will be an amazing place!” Bombus stretched her arms out and twirled in the street.

“Bombus, would you remind me what you’re looking for?” Mira asked.

“Oh, Mira. I’m looking for a mind at work.” Bombus trotted away from her sisters.

“There’s nothing like summer in the city: someone in a rush next to someone looking pretty,” Erik’s eye caught Bombus in the distance and he rushed over to her. “Excuse me, miss, I know it’s not funny but your perfume smells like your daddy’s got money. Why are you slumming in the city in your fancy heels? Are you searching for an urchin who can give you ideals?”

“Lehnsherr, you disgust me...” Bombus slowly tried to get away from the situation.

“Ah, so you’ve discussed me,” he gave her a smirk and slicked back his hair. “I’m a trust fund, baby, you can trust me.”

Bombus’s eye twitched. “Erik, I’ve been reading “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine. Some men say that I’m intense or even insane,” she seemingly growled at him. “You want a revolution. I want a revelation. So listen to my declaration: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” And so, you know what I’ll do when I meet the guy? I’ll compel him to include women in the sequel.”

“Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now,” Mira said to Lizzy.

Bombus caught up with her sisters again. “History is happening in Manhattan and we just so happen to be present for it,” she explained. “Right here. In the greatest city in the world.”


	3. Right-hand man

Latverian officer Kurtz had his troops on the harbour. There were thirty-two thousand troops in New York. They surrounded the poor heroes who simply wanted to protect humanity.

As an orphan in Westchester, Charles wished for a war. He knew that, as a mutant, he would be judged so much for that one factor that he had to be a hero to make a name for himself. When they would tell his story, would he be a dead body on the battlefield, or someone who rose up to fight for their rights?

There was only one advanced human who could give them the command to rise up, and here they came.

“Here comes the general!” every mutant called out.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Erik proudly said as many larger ones walked into line. “This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Allow me to introduce to you the pride of Boston, General Carol Danvers!”

The general did not look close to what Charles expected. Instead of someone large, or with a rather visible physical mutation, he saw a blonde woman.

“Mutants, I am sad to say that we are outgunned and outmanned by Latverians at every corner,” she said. “We are outnumbered and our plans always get found out. I’m gonna need a right-hand man.”

“Can I be real a second? For just a millisecond? Let down my guard and tell the people how I feel a second? Now I’m the model of a modern major general,” Carol confessed. “The venerated Bay Stater veteran whose men are all lining up, to put me up on a pedestal as they write letters to relatives and embellish my elegance and eloquence. But the elephant is in the room.”

The truth was revealed to everyone when Latverian cannons sounded almost hourly. Any sign of success was fleeting? How could she lead as her cavalry fled from every battle? They put a stop to any bleeding as Doom’s forces took Brooklyn. A knight took their rook, but look: they had nobody to aid them, they were low on supplies, they had no plan and they outnumbered.

“Sean, check for damages!” Charles commanded. “We need to take their advantages and use it against them. Let’s take a stand with our stamina and...”

The Telepath took note of some familiar objects. “Let’s steal their cannons!”

Sean nodded and lifted the metallic orbs off of the boat.

“Are these the men I have to defend America with?” Carol asked. She sighed. “We ride at midnight: Manhattan in the distance. I cannot be everywhere at once; I need some help.”

Carol retreated to her office and Erik took note. He waited for her to sit down.

“General Danvers?”

“Who are you?”

“Erik Lehnsherr, Ma’am. Permission to state my case?”

“As you were,” Carol glanced at the papers on her desk.

“Ma’am, I was a captain under General Barnes until he caught a bullet in the neck in Quebec and, well, I think I could be of some assistance. I admire how you take out the Latverians with ease. I have some questions and ideas of how to fight instead of constantly retreating.”

“Yes?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Well-!” Erik started before being cut off.

“General Danvers, you wanted to see me?” Charles asked.

“Ah, Xavier. Come in. Have you met Lehnsherr?”

“Yes, Ma’am. We keep meeting.” Charles confessed.

“Anyway,” Erik continued. “As I was saying, Ma’am, I look forward to seeing your strategy play out.”

“Yes, yes. And Lehnsherr?” Danvers asked.

“Yes?”

“Close the door on your way out.”

As soon as Carol and Charles were alone, silence filled the room.

Uncomfortable with the quietness, Charles spoke up. “Have I done something wrong, ma’am?”

“Oh, no. On the contrary, I called you here because our odds are beyond scary. Your reputation precedes you, but I have to laugh,” Carol chuckled.

“Ma’am?” Charles tilted his head.

“Xavier, how come no-one can get you on their staff?” she asked. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re a young man of great renown. I know that you stole Latverian cannons when we were downtown. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers both wanted to hire you.”

“Oh, just to be their secretary. I don’t think that would be the job for me.”

“Then why are you upset?” she asked.

“I’m not.”

“It’s alright you wanna fight. You have a hunger. I was just like you when I was younger: head full of fantasies of dying like a martyr?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“Dying is easy, Charles. Living is harder.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m being honest. I’m working with a third of resources that were promised. We are a powder keg about to explode. I need someone like you to lighten the load. So?”

Charles thought for a second. This was his chance to make it big. “I’ll do it.”

“We are outgunned, outmanned,” she said.

“You need all the help you can get. I have some friends: McCoy, Cassidy, and even Gambit. What else?”

“Outnumbered, out-planned.”

“We need some spies on the inside: some Latverians who might let some things slide,” Charles said. “I’ll order supplies, you rally everyone together and master the element of surprise.”

“Here comes the general!”

“Rise up!” Charles said as he and Carol’s innermost guards walked to the mutant army.

“Here comes the general!” everyone called out.

“Rise up!”

“Here comes the general!”

“And her right-hand man!” Charles felt Carol’s hand on his shoulder as she stood with enough confidence to choke a lion several times over.


	4. A Winter's Ball

How does the mutant, orphan, biologist with a fortune go on and on in his pursuits and grow into more of a phenomenon? Well, simply watch as this obnoxious, arrogant, loudmouth bother is seated at the right hand of the mother. Danvers hired Xavier right on sight, but the man wished to do more than just be her secretary.

While Charles’s literary merits were undeniable, he had another talent that only those close to him knew of.

“What do we have in common?” Erik asked. “Well, that’s quite simple, really. We’re reliable with the- “

“Ladies!” Charles, Hank, and Erik sang as they walked into the party at Stark Tower.

“Oh my, there are so many here,” Charles said.

“Yeah, and the more beautiful they are then the higher their class,” Erik leaned in and whispered to the other.

That’s right, Charles had a soft spot for any gorgeous woman. They delighted and distracted the biologist. This amused Carol’s wife, Maria Rambeau, so much that she decided to name her and Carol’s other feral tom flerken after him!

As the Stark party was heating up, a trio of girls entered with their father.

“Oh, the Morner sisters, the envy of every woman in the room, the belles of the ball, the fairest women of them all. Elizabeth the youngest sister, Bombus the eldest, and Miranette,” Erik said to Charles. “Look, if you can marry one of the Morners, then not only would you be richer than Stark himself, you would be set for life.”

“Ah, but is it a question of if, Lehnsherr,” Charles mused. “Or which one?”

Erik chuckled and slapped a hand on Charles’s back.

The two men laughed and went off for a drink while the middle Morner sister gazed longingly to the intellectual telepath on the other side of the room.

“Oh, dear Lord. He has me helpless...” she whispered to nobody.


	5. Helpless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Charles and Mira met, it was like magic.

As soon as Mira’s eyes caught sight of him, she knew that he would be the man she would marry. He had her helpless with nothing more than a smile.

Through her entire life, Mira had never been the one to grab all of the attention. That honour fell to her sister, Bombus. She was the one with the glittery eyes like gold, Bombus had the perfectly pointed tail, while Mira was left looking like some kind of otter with red eyes.

The siblings had been invited to a party for mutants, and the heat of the night only added to the flushed look on her face.

Bombus had told some joke (the exact joke could not be remembered, but it made her laugh) and all eyes seemed to be on Bombus alone.

Then he walked in.

Her heart pounded against her chest as she saw his face throughout the crowd. His eyes were a beautiful blue and his hair flopped just the right way. He was perfect. 

Charles Xavier, geneticist, professor, and wealthy young man. The right hand man to General Carol Danvers. 

Mira tried to catch his eye from the side of the room, but it was no good. He was talking to someone, the music was too loud, he was occupied.

Mira found her way over to Bombus.

“Oh, hey!” she said. “Mira, where’ve you been?”

Mira smiled and pointed over her shoulder to the man. “Just trying to find someone to love. Can-uh, please don’t dazzle him. That one’s mine.”

Bombus nodded and made her way over to him. Quickly, Mira panicked. What was she going to do? She grabbed him by the arm.

Then he turned and looked at her and she was helpless again. His eyes were gorgeous. 

“Where are you taking me?” Charles asked in a confused tone.

Oh, great. His voice was beautiful: soft, gentle. She was smitten. Completely enamoured by him. 

“I’m about to change your life,” Bombus smiled and pulled him along.

“Then by all means, lead the way,” Charles rolled his eyes and chuckled.

“Mira Morner. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir...” she curtseyed with a blush on her face.

“Morner?” Charles asked.

“My sister," Bombus explained as she stood by Mira’s side.

“Thank you for all of your work on mutant rights,” Mira smiled at Charles and wagged her tail.

“Well, if it takes me fighting for our rights for us to meet, then it will be worth it,” Charles confessed.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Bombus walked off to her own business. 

Not too long after the ball, they started off a whirlwind romance: letters were sent between the two daily, it seemed. It was a perfect romance.

“Bombus, I am not going to start a harem with you, so forget it,” Mira groaned as she wrote away on the sheet of parchment that sat before her.

“Look, I’m just saying that if you really loved me, you would share him,” Bombus put her hands up in a mock surrender and walked away, leaving Mira to laugh to herself.

After the two had been together for a few years, Charles had come over to ask for her parents blessing: the young couple sat in the living room with Mira’s parents thinking the offer of the wedding over.

“Lucifer, he clearly loves her,” Lilith consoled her husband. “We should. He’s a bright young man, they love each other. Charles is a bright young man. He's perfect for her.”

Lucifer nodded. He got up and walked over to Charles.

“Be true, son,” he said.

“You know, I really think that your family tries to bring out a different side of me,” Charles explained as he had his arm intertwined with Mira’s. “Lizzy confides in me, and I think Bombus tried to fight me? But, hey, no stress. My love for you is never in doubt.”

“Will we get a little place in Harlem?” Asked Mira with her doe-like eyes.

“I was thinking Westchester... I’ve got a place there, we can figure it out,” Charles chuckled. “Listen, Mira. I’ve been living alone for what has essentially been my entire life. My parents died, Raven left. I grew up buck wild. But I’ll never forget my mother’s face – that was real. As long as I’m alive, you’ll never feel as helpless.”

As Mira walked up the aisle on their big day, she caught the eye of everyone while in her white dress. All in attendance had their eyes on her. She was the light of the day.

And she would always feel like that with him.


	6. Story of Tonight Reprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big night before his wedding, Charles enjoys some time with his friends.

“I may not live to see our glory!” Hank raised his glass. “But I’ve seen wonders great and small, because if the tomcat can get married then there’s hope for our ass, after all!”

The other mutants nodded and mumbled in agreement. Charles smiled as Hank slung an arm over his shoulder. This ‘guy’s night’ as Remy called it, was a great idea.

“Raise a glass to freedom!” Remy drunkenly slurred.

“Hey!” Hank and Sean chorused. “Something you will never see again!”

“No matter what she tells you!” Sean laughed at his own joke.

“Let’s have another round tonight!” Remy suggested.

Everyone at the table agreed and drinks were ordered.

“Raise a glass to the four of us!” Hank cheered.

“To the extremely not poor of us!” Sean chimed in.

“We’ll tell the story of tonight!” Remy drunkenly tried to stand. Tried being the key word. 

A familiar figure stalked his way over to the table with his stoic stature and an awkwardly positioned shark-toothed smile.

“Well, if it isn’t Erik Lehnsherr,” Charles smiled. “I didn’t think that you would make it.”

“I, uh...” Erik fumbled over his words. Clearly, he didn’t know what to say. “I came to say congratulations. I see the whole gang is here.”

“You’re, you- hold on,” Remy spluttered out before hiccupping. “You are the worst, Lehnsherr!”

Charles sent a glare Remy’s way and invited the tall man to sit with them. “Ignore them. Congrats to you, master of Magnets. I wish I had your command instead of manning Carol’s journal.”

“No, you don’t,” Erik scoffed.

“Yes, I do!” Charles tried to sound confident.

“Now, be sensible, Charles. From what I hear, you’ve made yourself indispensable,” Erik smiled.

Hank smirked and slid up to Erik’s side with a drunken red hue on his cheeks. “Well, well, I heard that you’ve got a special someone on the side, Lehnsherr.”

“Is that so?” Charles chuckled.

“What are you trying to hide, Erik?” Hank asked.

Erik abruptly stood up. “I should go.”

The man tried, in vain, to hide his blushing face, but Charles pulled him back playfully to the group. 

“No, these guys should go,” he gestured to his friends, who all took their leave, grumbling under their breaths.

As the two were alone, an extremely awkward silence emerged. Luckily, Charles broke it easily. “It’s alright, Lehnsherr. I wish you’d brought this girl with you tonight, though, Erik.”

“Charles, you’re very kind, but I am sad to say that it would be unlawful of me to do so,” Erik stared into his drink. "Believe me."

“What do you mean?” Charles tilted his head lightly.

“She’s married.” Erik bluntly said, with a few faint tears in his eyes. “To a Latverian officer.”

“Oh shit…” Charles whispered at Erik's surprising revelation.

The two men sat alone. They didn’t know how to break the silence. As soon as Erik caught sight of the clock creeping ever so close to midnight, however, he decided to take his leave.

“Well, I should really get going,” Erik grabbed his jacket and got up. He slid down some money to pay for his drink and sighed. “Congrats again, Charles. I’ll see you later.”

“I will never understand you,” Charles said. “Look, Erik, you love this woman, so you should go get her! What are you waiting for?”

“Charles, drop it.” Erik glared at him. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, you too.”


	7. Satisfied

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A ball lead to a wedding, but harboured feelings will be revealed.

“Alright, alright! That’s what I’m talking about!” Hank cheered to the guests of the wedding. “Now everyone, give it up for the maid of honour, Miss Bombus Morner!”

“Thank you, Doctor McCoy,” Bombus said before she addressed everyone. She cleared her throat and lifted her glass. “A toast – to the groom!”

“To the groom,” everyone seemed to agree with her statement.

“To the bride! From your sister, who will always support you.” Bombus glanced in the couple’s direction and smiled.

Everyone echoed her statement once more.

“To your marriage, and the hope you give us all,” Bombus raised her glass and gave a joyous smile. “And may you always be satisfied.”

 _Rewind_... Her mind screamed at her. And she was brought back to the night they met – the night that Mira fell in love.

“I remember that night... I just might regret that night for the rest of my days...” Bombus glanced about the party in her mind while some similar figures seemed to shout about something. “I remember those mutant boys tripping over themselves to win our praise...”

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves at the party – wine was being drunk, food was eaten, and everyone seemed to dance the night away. It made Bombus sick.

“I remember that dreamlike candlelight, it’s like a dream that you can’t quite place,” She glanced up and caught the eye of someone familiar to her. “But Charles, I’ll never forget the first time I saw your face...”

She sighed at the table she sat at. “I have never been the same. Intelligent eyes in a hunger-pang frame. And when you said “Hi”, I forgot my dang name,” Bombus blushed and hid her face behind a fan. “Set my heart aflame. Every part aflame. This is not a game.”

Bombus walked over to Charles who had a smirk plastered across his face.

“You know what? You strike me as a woman who has never been satisfied,” Charles said as he and Bombus talked.

Bombus turned her nose up and sighed. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. You forget yourself.”

Charles moved smoothly to her front and confessed to her. “You’re quite like me: I’m never satisfied.”

“Is that right?” Bombus smirked in response.

“I’ve never been satisfied.”

Bombus curtseyed to Charles and grinned. “My name is Bombus Morner.”

Charles bowed regally, almost like a Prince in his actions. “Professor Charles Francis Xavier.”

“Where’s your family from?” Bombus asked curiously.

“Unimportant, there’s a million things I haven’t done, but just you wait... Just you wait...”

Time seemed to pause, and Bombus was by herself. “So this is what it feels like to match wits with someone at your level. What the hell is the catch?” she asked nobody in particular. “It’s the feeling of freedom, of seeing the light. It’s Ben Franklin with a key and a kite! I do see it, right?”

She sighed. “The conversation lasted two minutes. Maybe three minutes. Everything we said was in total agreement. It’s a dream and it’s a bit of a dance. A bit of a posture, it’s a bit of a stance,” she smiled to herself like a love-sick puppy. “He’s a bit of a flirt, but I would give it a chance. I asked about his family, and what was his answer? His hands started fidgeting. He looked askance? He’s a liar, he’s flying by the seat of his pants.”

Bombus groaned and looked at him. “Handsome, boy does he know it. He’s got peach fuzz and he can’t even grow it,” she purred. “I wanna take him far away from this place, but then I turned and saw Mira’s face and she was-“

“Helpless...” Mira’s gaze fell on Charles. She was in love. Her heart belonged to him. 

“And I know she is...”

“Helpless...”

"And her eyes are just..." Bombus sighed. 

"Helpless..." Mira's eyes fluttered like she had just woken from a dream. 

“And I realised three fundamental truths at the exact same time...”

“Where are you taking me?” Charles asked in a confused tone.

“I’m about to change your life,” Bombus smiled and pulled him along.

“Then by all means, lead the way,” Charles rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Rule number one that Bombus realised: she was a young woman in a world in which her abilities would be extremely doubted. Her job, it seemed to most, was to marry rich and produce a son to inherit her father’s money. She was the eldest of her sisters, the smartest (it seemed) and gossip was horrendous in New York, and Charles wasn’t the kind of man to give her the status she needed in this world. That didn’t mean she didn’t care for him, she did. She just had to assure her own status first. 

“Mira Morner. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir...” she curtseyed with a blush on her face.

“Morner?” Charles asked.

“My sister," Bombus explained as she stood by Mira’s side.

The second rule that Bombus learned was simple: she was a Morner, people would want her because of her name instead of who she was. Being with her would elevate Charles’s status. She would need to be an idiot to think of any other reason. That was why she introduced Mira to Charles, she became his wife. Charles would be part of the family, and Mira would get her happily ever after. 

“Nice going, Bombus...” she sighed. “Charles was right. You’ll never be satisfied.”

“Thank you for all of your work on mutant rights,” Mira smiled at Charles and wagged her tail.

“Well, if it takes me fighting for our rights for us to meet, it will have been worth it,” Charles confessed.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Bombus walked off, finally releasing the tears she hid.

The final truth she realised was that if she confessed to loving him, Mira would nod and let her have him. She would say that she was fine. She would be lying.

“But when I fantasise at night, it’s Charles’s striking eyes as I romanticise what might’ve been if I hadn’t sized him up so quickly,” she sighed. “At least my dearest Mira’s his wife. At least I keep his eyes in my life.”

As soon as that thought ended, she was brought directly back to the wedding: she was still standing and giving her toast.

“Oh, right... Uh... To the groom! To the bride! From me, who will love and support you both, and may you always have each other.. May you always be satisfied.”

They did not hear the silent lines that graced her lips as she walked back to her seat.

“And I know she’ll be happy as his bride. And I know he will never be satisfied,” she quickly corrected herself. “No. _I will never be satisfied_.”


	8. Meet Me Inside

"Storm, do you yield?" Charles asked the man who lay on the ground. 

"You shot him in the side," Erik stood aghast. "Yes he yields."

"Well, I'm satisfied." Hank slipped the pistol into his holster and smirked.

"Alright, we have to clear the field!" Erik waved off the croud of mutants. 

"Hey, we won." Charles smiled. 

"Here comes the general!" everyone chorused as Danvers arrived on the scene. 

"What is the meaning of this?" she snapped. "Mister Lehnsherr, get a medic for the general."

"Yes, ma'am," Erik whipped off to get someone. 

Danvers kneeled down to Johnny Storm and sighed. "Storm, you will never agree with me, but believe me when I say that these young men don't speak for me." she helped him sit up. "Thank you for your service."

"Let's ride," Erik said as he arrived with a medic. 

"And Xavier?" Carol asked. 

"Yes, ma'am?" Charles cautiously padded forward. 

"Meet me inside." she said as she walked off. 

Her words bounced around in his mind as he walked to her office. 

"Sit down," Carol's voice coolly came out. 

Charles quickly obeyed her order. 

"Son-!" 

"Don't call me son," Charles mumbled. 

"This war is hard enough without infighting."

"But Ma'am, Storm called you out, we called his bluff."

"Yeah?" Carol asked. "Well that solves nothing. Charles, when you do that, you aggrivate our allies."

"You're absolutely right. Hank should have shot him in the mouth," Charles groaned. "That would have shut him up."

"Son-"

"I'm not your son," Charles reminded in an annoyed tone. 

"Watch your tone. I am not a child in need of defending-!" 

"Johnny Storm, Black Bolt, these men take your name," Charles explained. "And they rake it through the mud."

"My name's been through a lot," Carol chided. "I can take it."

"Well I don't have your name or your title, but if you could give me a command and a battalion, I could rise above after the war."

"Or you could get yourself killed, and we need you alive," Carol sighed. 

"I am more than willing to make that sacrifice, general Danvers."

"Charles, your wife needs you alive," she reminded. "Son, I need you alive-"

"Call me son one more time!" Charles snapped. 

"Go home, Charles," she coolly spoke. "That's an order from your commander."

"What?" Charles asked. "But ma'am-!" 

"Go home."


	9. That Would Be Enough

“Erik,” Magda said as her husband finished his rant. “I’m pregnant.”

Erik gave her a surprised, almost terrified look. “How long have you known?”

Magda shrugged. “About a month or so…”

“Magda, you should have told me…” he took a step closer to his wife.

“Well, I wrote to Danvers a month ago,” she confessed. Magda stared down at her feet, a blush on her cheeks and tears in her eyes.

“No…” Erik pieced everything together in his mind.

“I begged her to send you home…” she whispered.

Erik put a hand gently to her cheek. “You should have told me…”

“I’m not sorry, Erik. I knew you’d fight until the war was won, but your child deserves a chance to meet you.”

“Magda, the war is nowhere near complete,” Erik said.

“Erik, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now…” she pleaded.

“Would you relish in being the wife of a mutant who is unable to provide for your life?” he asked her. “A poor man’s wife?”

“Erik, I love being your wife,” she explained. “Look at how lucky we are to have survived what we have.”

Erik sat on the couch as his mind swam with thoughts. Magda sat down next to him and gently put her hand on his chest. “Look at where you are and where you started. Erik, if you look at your life then it is a miracle you are alive right now. If you just stay alive, that would be enough…”

She felt the child within her flutter. “If this child shares a fraction of your smile, or a fragment of your mind then look out world. That would be enough.”

Erik gave Magda a soft smile and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He pushed back her hair from her face and put his own forehead against hers as they shared a gentle embrace.

“I don’t pretend to know what challenges you face for being a mutant, and the worlds you create and erase within your mind,” Magda’s hand found its way back to his cheek. “But I’m not afraid. Erik, I know who I married. And as long as he comes home at the end of the day, that would be enough.”

Erik gave her his classic shark-toothed grin and she continued.

“We don’t need a legacy: we don’t need money. If I could grant you piece of mind, and you would let me be inside your heart. I want to be a part of the narrative, the story they will write some day. Let this moment be the first chapter where you decide to stay, and I could be enough… and we could be enough… that would be enough…”

As the two sat there and dozed off, the twins within Magda moved and fluttered into positions they would find comfortable while their parents were unaware of the great powers they would one day possess. 


	10. History Has It's Eyes On You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles has a talk with Scott. Whatever could happen?

"Scott, could you come to my office for a second?" Charles asked telepathically.

The mutant in question quickly got up from class and excused himself to the headmaster's study.

"You wanted to see me, professor?" Scott asked as he nervously slid through the doors.

Charles sat in his wheelchair and faced the window. Mira stood beside him and kept her eyes on the same spot on the horizon.

"Yes, mister Summers," Charles turned around to face him. "Please take a seat."

Scott did so and fidgeted with his hands as he awaited a lecture - or something - from his teacher.

"I still have some work to do, mon cherie," Mira gave Charles a peck on the cheek as she excused herself from his office.

The door quietly shut, and Scott was left alone with arguably the strongest telepath on the planet.

"Scott, are you aware of how I lost my legs?" Charles asked. 

Scott nodded and waited for him to continue.

"I was younger than you are now, when I was given my first command…" Charles remembered. "I led my friends straight into a massacre. I witnessed their deaths first hand."

Charles wheeled around the desk and sat beside his protege. He clenched his fist as regret swam over him. "I made every mistake, and felt the shame rise in me…"

Scott felt his own insecurities of leadership slowly fall away. "And even now I lie awake with the knowledge that history has it's eyes on me.."

"History has it's eyes on me…" Scott whispered beneath his breath like a prayer. He did his best to mimic his mentor. 

"Come with me, Scott," Charles wheeled out of his study and into the empty mansion halls.

"Let me tell you what I wish I'd known when I was a young man with dreams of glory," Charles' eyes held a sadness only seen by those who knew him well enough. "In this life, you have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story."

"I understand, sir…" Scott nodded as he walked by the professor's side.

"In the battle against mutant suppression, I know that we can win," Charles smiled gently. "I know - I can feel - that greatness lies in you. Just remember that from here on in,  _ history had its eyes on you _ …"

Scott stood still for a second. He muttered the phrase once more and nodded. 

"That will be all, young Summers," Charles waved him off. "Please head back to class."

With that, Scott nodded and marched back to history. 

As he sat in the hall, he smiled. Charles remembered what it was like to be a young man with the dream of dying for a noble cause so long ago. 

Of course, had he done so then he wouldn't have-!

"Darling?" Mira gently kneeled down to his level. "Are you alright, mon amour?"

"Yes, yes, love," Charles gently shook his head. "Just thinking is all…"


	11. Dear Little Amber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles and Mira are married. And this is Charles singing to his daughter for the first time while Erik sings to his son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just dad's singing to their babus

“Dear little Amber, what to say to you…” asked Charles Xavier as he sat with his newborn daughter in his arms. The small bundle of blankets softly moved in his arms, and a small grin found its way onto the professors face. As he took all of her features in, he noticed the small tail and ears poking out – his daughter, his little Amber – a mutant. "You have my eyes, you have your mother’s smile.”

“When you came into the world, you cried and it broke my heart.” He sighed.

The telepath already knew that she had him wrapped around her little finger. “I’m dedicating every day to you,” he smiled as he had decided that. “Domestic life was never quite my style. When you smile, you knock me out, I fall apart. And I thought I was so smart…”

Mira rested in the bed that sat by the armchair and smiled as her husband sang to their little girl. The day had been full of surprises, for sure: their adoptive daughter had been born. 

“You will come of age with our young nation. We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you,” he sang under his breath. “If we lay a strong enough foundation, we’ll pass it on to you. We’ll give the world to you, and you’ll blow us all away someday, some day. Yeah, you’ll blow us all away. Someday, some day.”

In his own house, so far away, Erik Lehnsherr held his own newborn son in his arms. “Oh, Peter, when you smile, I am undone, my son.” a gentle grin graced his lips as he held the small child close to his heart. “Look at my son. Pride is not the word I’m looking for. There’s so much more inside me now. Oh, Peter, you outshine the morning sun, my son.”

“When you smile,” he said as the infant seemed to grin at him. “I fall apart. And I thought I was so smart…”

“My father wasn’t around...” Erik sighed.

“My father wasn’t around...” sang Charles.

“I swear that I’ll be around for you,” both men sang at once.

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Erik’s voice softly cooed as his son slept.

“I’ll make a million mistakes,” Charles gently said to his daughter.

“I’ll make the world safe and sound for you...” both of them sang. “Will come of age with our young nation. We’ll bleed and fight for you. We’ll make it right for you. If we lay a strong enough foundation, we’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you and you’ll blow us all away…”

Both Charles and Erik placed a small kiss on their child’s foreheads, and walked to lie in their own beds, finally getting some rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a wholesome chapter.


	12. Burn

“Charles, you don’t seem to get it, do you?” Mira asked with tears in her eyes.

She sighed and opened her drawer. “I saved every letter you wrote me. From the moment I read them, I knew you were mine. You said you were mine. I thought you were mine…”

“Mira, please. I can explain!” Charles refuted.

“Do you know what Bombus said when we saw your first letter arrive? She said “be careful with that one, love. He will do what it takes to survive.””

Charles was left speechless at the revelation. Mira took a handful of the letters, closed her drawer and continued. “You and your words flooded my senses. Your sentences left me defenseless. You built me palaces out of paragraphs. You built cathedrals…”

She sighed. “I’m re-reading the letters you wrote me. I’m searching and scanning for answers in every line: for some kind of sign. And when you were mine, the world seemed to burn…”

“Mira, please. Think this through…!” Charles pleaded.

“You published the letters she wrote you. You told the whole world how you brought this girl into our bed. In clearing your name, you have ruined our lives!” Mira was nearly in tears.

“Do you know what Bombus said when she’d read what you’d done? She said “You have married an Icarus. He has flown too close to the sun.””

She got up and close with her husband and snarled.

“You and your words, obsessed with your legacy. Your sentences border on senseless. And you are paranoid in every paragraph how they perceive you… you… you… you…”

Mira tossed the letters into the fireplace. They meant nothing to her. Not anymore.

“I’m erasing myself from the narrative. Let future historians wonder how Mira reacted when you broke her heart. You have torn it all apart, I’m watching it burn.”

“Mira, I’m sorry!” Charles wiped his eyes.

“Don’t. The world has no right to my heart, it has no place in our bed. They don’t get to know what I said. I’m burning the memories and letters that might have redeemed you.”

“No, Mira! Please…” Charles pleaded. “How many times can I apologize?”

She turned back to him and growled. Mira pointed a finger to his heart.

“You forfeit all rights to my heart, you forfeit the place in our bed. You can sleep in your office instead, with only the memories of when you were mine!” she was crying heavily. “I hope that you burn…”

"Fine..." Charles's voice was broken.

He knew that he had made a mistake - a stupid mistake - that could never be forgiven. He made the biggest mistake any married, loving man could. And there was no going back.

He stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut. A picture of their wedding day, on the wall, shook and sat steady upon its nail.

With that, Charles left her side, and both mutants crumpled when the other was out of sight.

Charles just lost the greatest gift he had ever gotten, and Mira had lost the last shred of hope she had left. 

But Charles, for all his telepathic gifts, did not see the red that stained Mira's sleeve. He did not see how pale her face was. All he saw was her anger, her heart's pain - not her mind's agony.


	13. Stay Alive Reprise

The doors to the hospital seemingly burst open as Erik ran into the room. He had a panicked took painted across his face and tears in his eyes. It was clear that Erik was at his breaking point.

“ _Stay alive,_ ” his mind seemed to scream at him. “ _Stay alive_...”

“Where is my son?” he asked as he rushed around.

A doctor took note and walked over to him. “Mister Lehnsherr, come with me,” she explained. “They brought him a half an hour ago, he lost a lot of blood on the way over-“

“Yes, but is he alive?” Erik yelled. He was losing his temper out of fear for his son. 

“Yes, but the bullet entered just above his hip and lodged in his right arm,” she calmly said.

“Can I see him, please?” Erik pleaded with hot tears in the corners of his eyes.

The doctor looked away for a second before returning her gaze to Erik. “Yes, but you have to understand, Mister Lehnsherr, that we are doing everything that we can, but the wound was already infected when he arrived.”

The doctor opened the door to his room, and sighed. It wasn’t looking good for the young mutant...

Erik rushed to his son's side and moved a few strands of hair from his eyes. 

“Pietro...” Erik whispered.

“Pa!” Pietro tried to sit up, but hissed in pain. “I did exactly as you said, Pop. I held my head up high. I- “

“I know, I know, shh...” Erik soothed his son. “You did absolutely everything right.”

“Even before we got to ten, I was aiming for the sky... I was aiming for the sky...”

“Shh, Pietro. Save your strength and stay alive...”

Magda ran down the hall with Peter, Lorna and Wanda.

“Just sit here while I go in with your father and brother, alright?” she asked her children. “I promise you that everything that can be done is being done.”

Magda slipped into Pietro’s room and walked up to her husband in a panic. “Erik, is he breathing? Is he going to survive this? Who did this to you, Pietro? Did your father know?”

“Mom, I’m so sorry for forgetting what you taught me,” Pietro breathed out in pain. “We used to play piano. You would put your hands on mine...”

“You changed the melody every time...” Magda had tears in her eyes as she smiled at her son.

“I would always change the line...” He rasped.

“I know, I know...” she sighed. “Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, Sept, huit, neuf...”

Pietro counted along with her, albeit painfully.

“Good. Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, Sept, huit, neuf...” she counted. Both she and Erik realised that Pietro had nodded off and stopped singing along. “Sept, huit neuf... Pietro, sept, huit...”

Pietro couldn’t stay alive...


	14. Your Obedient Servant

“How does Banner, an arrogant, human, orphan,” Hank mused to himself at his desk. “Physicist, abused kid somehow endorse Reed Richards, his rival, a man he’s despised since the beginning, just to keep me from winning?”

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I wanna be in the room where it happens, the room where it happens, the room where it happens,” He hummed to himself. “You’ve kept me from the room where it happens for the last time…”

He glanced at his computer screen and thought for a second. Should he do this? If he did, he wouldn’t be able to take it back. His blue claws clacked onto the keyboard.

“Dear doctor Banner,” he wrote. “I am slow to anger, but I toe the line as I reckon with the effects of your life on mine. I look back on where I failed and in every place I checked the only common thread has been your disrespect.”

He sipped from his coffee mug as he continued. “Now you call me amoral, a dangerous disgrace. If you’ve got something to say, then name a time and place: face to face. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, H. M.”

With that, he hit the send button and sighed.

In his own office, Banner was alerted to the email and read it over.

“Doctor McCoy, I am not the reason no one trusts you. No one knows what you believe. I will not equivocate on my opinion. I have always worn it on my sleeve. Even if I said what you think I said,” he responded. “You would need to cite a more specific grievance. Here’s an itemized list of thirty years of disagreements.”

“Sweet Jesus…” Hank said as he read that document over.

“Hey, I have not been shy. I am just a guy in the public eye trying to do my best for our republic. I don’t wanna fight, but I won’t apologize for doing what’s right. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, B Banner.”

Hank scoffed as he finished the email. “Be careful how you proceed, good man. Intemperate indeed, good man. Answer for the accusations I lay at your feet or prepare to bleed, good man.”

“Hank, your grievance is legitimate. I stand by what I said, every bit of it. You stand only for yourself, it’s what you do. I can’t apologize because it’s true.”

“Then stand, doctor Banner: New Jersey at dawn. Guns drawn.”

“You’re on.” Banner sent.

“I have the honor to be your obedient servant,” both men signed.

“B Banner,” Bruce finished his email.

“H. M,” finished Hank.


	15. A/N (Mira is babey who needs protecting)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I figured that I would want to give a basic summary to my character Mira here seeing as she is seen so frequently.  
> Also, tw for prostitution, dubious or no consent, suicide and mental health problems, pregnancy and birth.

I know this isn't like other chapters, but I just wanted to share Mira's Canon story.

Mira was born into a somewhat noble family in a mutant colony situated in the heart of Paris, France. There, by the age of three, her mutation surfaced. 

She grew up while loving the music of the time. It spoke to her on a spiritual level. 

By the age of fifteen, however, she ended up forced into a brothel to survive. Her life became a circle of men and music: wine being forced down her throat as men “complimented” her every night. She never felt safe in her room. 

There, she met her close friend Bombus, who was the niece of the woman who owned the place. She was two years older than Mira and seemed to look out for her. However, Bombus couldn't always be there for her. 

By the age of twenty three, she gave up on everything. She took herself to the nearest bridge and wanted to end it all, but then a gentle hand coerced her mind out of it. A soft voice spoke to her and made her feel safe. 

Once she was away, she saw him: the man who she would one day marry and raise five children with. 

Charles hadn't expected to meet his soulmate that night, but she needed saving and he was there at the right time. 

He calmed her down and spoke with her gently. She was a peer. He spoke to her as a fellow person, not like she was simply flesh for him to use. 

The two grew closer and moved to West Chester with Bombus and her sister. Charles helped her become a therapist. She spoke of her experiences and got the help she needed. Mira improved drastically.

She and Charles were always by each other's sides: Mira handed him reports and evaluations of pupils and Charles gave her updates on pupils he thought needed help. They were a team. 

It was only natural that when he proposed that she responded with a yes. 

Funnily enough, their first child was born on the same day as their wedding. Bombus, who had graciously offered to surrogate for the couple with their fears, went into labour with their first child just as the reception started. And several hours later, Stephan Berlioz Xavier was born. He fit in their arms perfectly and had his father's eyes. 


	16. La Vie en Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charles is telling a story to his children about the first time he canonically met Mira.

_Mira sat upon her bed and took out her small guitar. She sighed as the night sky called out to her. The balcony was just there…_

_Getting up from her bed, she slid out to the hotel balcony with her guitar. The stars seemed to be her own private audience._

_She softly strummed the chords as she warmed up. It was worth it for old time's sake... one last ballad to send her off._

_Her voice - soft and sweet - spilled out as she decided on a song to play._

_Her low mood called for one of her favourites from her childhood. The very same one her mother sang to her._

_"Hold me close and hold me fast…" she sang. "This magic spell you cast. This is la vie en rose…"_

_As Charles sat in his room, the soft and gentle voice called out to him - summoning him like a siren song. He had to listen to it. To find the pain behind the beauty._

_"When you kiss me, heaven sighs, and though I close my eyes, I see la vie en rose…"_

_Charles smiled as he opened the door. The girl's mind whirred non-stop as she sang._

_"When you press me to your heart, I'm in a world apart. A world where roses bloom," she softly lamented. "And when you speak, angels sing from above…"_

_She sighed as she thought of all the tragedy she faced in life. Her claws continued to pluck at the strings and play their sweet melody. It swam through Charles's ears like honey and soothed him._

_His head sat upon the balcony as he listened to her voice. He could listen to her sing for hours, if he was being honest - she had that kind of voice._

_"Everyday words seem to turn into love songs. Give your heart and soul to me and life will always be la vie en rose…"_

_As soon as she let up, Charles knew what he had to do. The darkness that loomed over her mind was a warning siren, and he listened to it._

_Grabbing his jacket, he left the room. He was hot on her trail as he ran off to save a young mutant from an early grave._

"Kids, I must have heard your mother's rendition of "La Vie en Rose" a million times over the years," Charles smiled as he told his children.

"Every night when she sits by the fire, or when she tucked you in for instance. But that performance," his eyes were glazed over in nostalgia. "That very first night that I ever heard her sing, that one will always be my favorite." 

Mira smiled as she read her book from the next room. The way he conveyed her was magical - even if the story was a little long-winded. Still, the children were learning the story. And she wouldn't have it any other way. 


	17. Once Upon A December - Prologue

"Well, it's been a pleasure seeing you again, but we really must take our leave," Bombus smiled as she and Raven picked up their bags. 

"Alright, fair thee well, Raven," Charles smiled and waved. 

"See you soon," Mira gave her oldest friend a hug. 

With that, the two mutants began to walk off. Their departure was cut short by a small mutant grabbing Bombus' leg. 

"Amber? What are you-?" she started. 

"Why do you have to go?" Amber whined. 

Raven sighed. How would she explain this to a child?

"Darling, we've stayed too long here," Bombus consoled the five year old. 

"Well, take me with you!" Amber said, not wanting to leave her aunts' side. 

"We can't do that, dear," Bombus soothed. "You belong here, but don't worry. I will always be with you."

Raven took the last present that they had and slid it into her wife's hand. 

Amber wound up the small music box and it started playing. 

"Our lullaby," Bombus smiled. 

The melody started out slow and steady for the child to sing along to. 

"When you play it, think of two women who love you very, very much," Raven gave the small girl a hug. 

Amber smiled at her aunt and gave a hug back, while the words "thank you" were whispered beneath her breath. 

"Far away, long ago, glowing dim as an ember," Bombus sang. 

"Things my heart used to know," Raven chimed in. "Things it yearns to remember."

"And a song someone sings once upon a December," Amber helped finish the last line. 

"Goodbye, Amber," Bombus sent the small child in the direction of her parents and looked fondly over her niece. 

Peter, one of Charles's friends' children, sat and watched the girl who was a little bit younger than him walk into her mother's warm arms. He wished that he didn't have to travel so much with his father. 

"Peter, are you ready?" Erik asked. 

"Huh? Oh, almost!" he called back as he turned away from the happy family that we're sat together and reading not too far from him. 


	18. Beautiful

"September first, nineteen-eighty-nine," came an unseen voice.

Amber, a young wolf-like mutant, readied herself for school. She sighed and lowered her head. Here it goes…

"Dear diary," Amber wrote as she pushed open the doors. "I believe I'm a good person. You know, I think that there's good in everyone, but here we are, first day of senior year."

She walked about the halls of the school. "And I look around at these kids that I've known all my life and I ask myself: what happened?"

The names were called out by fellow students.

“Freak!”

“Slut!”

“Burnout!”

“Bug-eyes!”

“Poser!”

“Lard-ass!”

“We were so tiny… Happy and shiny,” Amber sang. “Playing tag and getting chased…”

"Freak!"

"Slut!"

"Loser!"

"Short bus!"

“Singing and clapping,” Amber started again. “Laughing and napping. Baking cookies, eating paste.”

Amber treaded the hall from left to right, while the students that stood behind her started walking around and getting in each other's face.

“Bull-dyke! Stuck-up! Hunchback!” all of the names seemed to blend together.

“Then we got bigger, that was the trigger,” she sighed. “Like the huns invading Rome.”

Amber bumped into another student. She awkwardly picked up her diary that had fallen onto the floor.

“Oh, sorry…” she whispered to the boy.

Quickly, she got up and scurried away.

“Welcome to my school. This ain't no high school,” she explained. “This is the thuderdome.”

“Hold your breath and count the days. We're graduating soon!”

“White trash!” screamed a group of girls.

“College will be paradise if I'm not dead by June…” she paused before continuing. “But I know… I know life can be beautiful. I pray for a better way.”

“If we changed back then, we could change again,” she proposed to herself. “We can be beautiful.”

Her lamenting was interrupted by someone being pushed onto the floor and groaning in surprise.

“Just not today…” she closed her locker and went to check on the boy. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Get away, nerd!” the boy pushed her aside.

“Oh, okay…” with that, she padded off elsewhere.

"Freak!"

"Slut!"

The crowd of students made a beeline towards Amber. They caused her to trip over a small trash can that was placed in the middle of the hall for some ungodly reason. She landed on her ass as the kids snickered around her, but they kept slinging the insults to her.

“Cripple!”

“Homo!”

“Homo!”

“Homo!” The crowd left Amber upon the floor. Not a single one of them batted an eye at her again.

Amber got up and dusted herself off. She shot the crowd a glare before going on her way.

“Things will get better as soon as my letter comes from Harvard, Duke, or Brown,” she sang. “Wake from this coma, take my diploma, then I can blow this town.”

She put a hand upon the wall dreamily as she kept walking. “Dream of ivy-covered walls and smoky French cafés.”

“Watch it!” a boy growled at her.

“Fight the urge to strike a match and set this dump ablaze.”

Someone knocked her books from her hands. She growled and stared up at the face of her tormentor.

Scott Summers. It was his third year as line-backer and the eighth that he spent smacking books out of people's hands and being a colossal dick.

“What’re you looking at, skank?” he asked.

“N-nothing!” Amber quickly shoved out as she collected her textbooks.

“But I know, I know,” The crowd around her started echoing each word and served her as backup vocals.

“Life can be beautiful… I pray, I pray for a better way,” she sang. “We were kind before, so we can be kind once more.”

“We can be beautiful…” she sang as a larger boy crept up behind her. She yelped as he poked her on the shoulder.

“Hey, Freddie!” she slapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey!” Freddie gave her a smile.

“Freddie J. Dukes,” Amber explained. “My best friend since… Diapers.”

“We on for movie night?” Freddie asked.

“Yeah,” Amber said. “You're on Jiffy pop detail.

“Good, ‘cause I rented “the Princess Bride”,” Freddie smiled.

“Oh, again?” Amber chuckled. “Wait, don't you have it memorised by now?”

“Yeah, well, what can I say?” Freddie asked. “I'm a sucker for a happy ending.”

“Freddie Duketruck! Wide load!” someone yelled at break as he knocked the tray of food out of Freddie’s hands.

“Remy LeBeau. Quarterback. He is the smartest guy on the football team,” Amber explained. “Which is kind of like being the tallest dwarf.”

“Hey!” Amber snapped. “Pick that up! Right now!”

“I'm sorry, are you actually talking to me, cher?” Remy asked.

“Yes I am. I want to know what gives you the right to pick on my friend,” she explained. “Remy, you're a high school has-been waiting to happen. A future gas station attendant.”

Remy pointed to the tip of her nose and smirked. “You have a zit right there.”

“Dear diary,” Amber wrote. “Why?”

“Why do they hate me?”

“Why don't I fight back?”

“Why do I act like such a creep?”

“Why?” Amber sang louder.

“Why won't he date me?” asked Freddie.

“Why did I hit him?”

“Why do I cry myself to sleep?” all of the students seemed to sing at once in a single, depressing voice.

“Somebody hug me!”

“Somebody fix me!”

“Somebody save me!”

“Send me a sign, God!”

“Give me some hope here,”

“Something to live for…”

Everyone fell silent as the doors opened and three figures stood within the hall. The red-headed leader and her two blonde henchmen all fell in formation as they marched into the cafeteria.

“And then there's the popular girls… They float above it all…” Amber sighed.

Amber watched all three girls walk into the canteen, all in order, in a v formation.

“Alison Blaire, head cheerleader,” she pointed to the girl decked out all in yellow. “Her dad is loaded, he sells engagement rings. Lilah Frost, runs the yearbook.”

“No discernable personality, but her big sister did pay for implants,” she elaborated as she pointed to Lilah’s chest. Her green shirt was fully buttoned up. “And Jean Grey, the almighty. She is a mythic bitch.”

Jean's red high heels clicked on the linoleum floor with every step she took.

The girls were like solid Teflon. They were never bothered. They were never pushed into their lockers or harassed.

“I would give anything to be like that…” Amber sighed.

The girls found themselves in the bathroom at the end of break. Jean was doing her makeup absent-mindedly, whilst Lilah was bent over a toilet vomiting. Alison held Lilah’s long, blonde hair back with every shake that raked her body and every time her food would come up.

“Grow up, Lilah,” Jean complained. “Bulimia is so eighty-seven.”

“Maybe you should see a doctor, Lily…”

“Yeah, Ally,” snapped Lilah. “Maybe I should.”

“Ah, Jean and Alison,” professor Mccoy smiled as he found the girls. Before he could continue, Lilah threw up once more. “... And Lilah… Perhaps you didn't hear the bell over all of the vomiting. You're late for class.”

“Oh, but Lilah wasn't feeling well. We're helping her,” Jean explained.

“Not without a hall pass,” Hank folded his arms. “One week's detention.”

“Actually, Professor Mccoy, all four of us are out on a hall pass. Yearbook committee.” Amber held her breath in as she handed Hank the slip.

Hank read the slip of paper over. “I see you're all listed… Hurry up and get where you're going.”

He handed Amber the hall pass back. With that, Hank left the bathroom. Jean took a look at the slip of paper.

“This is an excellent forgery… Who are you?”

“Uh… Amber Xavier!” she yelped. “I crave a boon.”

“What boon?” Jean asked.

“Let me sit at your table, at lunch. Just once. No talking necessary. If people think that you guys tolerate me, then they'll leave me alone…”

The girls looked at each other and giggled.

“Before you answer, I also do report cards, permission slips, and absence notes!” Amber added.

“How about prescriptions?” Lilah asked.

“Shut up, Lilah,” Jean scolded.

“Sorry, Jean…”

Jean turned back to Amber, who was just awkwardly standing there. She seemed to calculate everything about her, she grabbed Amber's chin in her hand.

"For a greasy little nobody, you do have good bone structure," Jean commented as she moved Amber's head to look at her from different angles. She let Amber's chin go.

"And a symmetrical face. If I took a meat cleaver down the center of your skull," Alison traced a line with her pointer finger down the center of her face. "I'd have matching halves. That's very important.”

“Of course, you could stand to loose a few pounds!” Lilah noted.

“And ya know, ya know, ya know?” Jean started to sing while she walked around Amber.

"This could be beautiful. Mascara, maybe some lip gloss, and we're on our way,” she smiled. “Get this girl some blush, and Lilah, I need your brush. Let's make her beautiful…”

"Let's make her beautiful..." Alison Harmonised with Jean.

"Let's make her beautiful..." Lilah finally joined.

"Okay?" Jean asked.

"Okay!” Amber smiled.

“Out of my way, geek!" a boy dressed like a jock sang, making a bewildered boy start walking backwards.

"I don't want trouble.." the boy held up his hands.

"You're going to die at 3 pm!"

The boy was pushed right into a group of girls only to be shoved away just as quickly.

“Don't you dare touch me! Get away, pervert!” They all hissed.

“What did I ever do to them?” the boy whined walking away.

“Who could survive this?” They all sang together.

“I can't escape this!”

“I think I'm dying!”

“Who's that with Lilah?”

In walked the girls. A single file line fell into the room. Lilah had the lead. She was followed swiftly by Alison, who skipped behind her. Behind Alison strode Jean, who seemed to ooze confidence from every pore. At the back of their line was…

“Someone…”

“A babe!”

In came Amber. She was dressed in a light blue plaid skirt, with knee high socks and a white shirt. A blue cardigan was worn over it, and a blue bow tie was fastened around her neck. Her face was elegantly painted in makeup. She seemed less pulled into herself. She seemed more open.

“Amber?” Freddie asked.

They all seemed to mutter Amber's name, as if trying to familiarise themselves with the word.

“And you know, you know, you know!” she sang in a delighted tone. “Life can be beautiful. You hope, you dream, you pray, and you get your way!”

“Ask me how it feels, looking like hell on wheels!” her tail excitedly wagged behind her. “My God it's beautiful!”

“I might be beautiful! And when you're beautiful…” Amber howled. “It's a beautiful freaking day!”

She threw her hands high in the air.

She knew what it was like to be beautiful now, and it was perfect.

A figure from beyond the cafeteria stood within the shadows. He watched the blonde girl be initiated into the popular princess clique and smiled softly. He would keep an eye on that one. Like a flash, however, he soon disappeared.


	19. Candy Store

"Are we gonna have a problem?" Emma asked. "You got a bone to pick?" 

Angel and Loki backed her up. Or, well, stood by her side and giggled to themselves. 

Mira shook her head quickly and cowered back. 

"You've come so far, why now are you pulling on my dick?" she snarled. 

She walked back and forth. "I'd normally slap your face off, and everyone here could watch," she gave a sickly sweet smile. "But I'm feeling nice. Here's some advice. Listen up, Biatch!" 

"I like," called Loki and Angel. 

"Lookin' hot, and buying stuff that they cannot," Emma sang. 

"I like," chanted her cronies. 

"Drinkin' hard, maxing dad's credit card." Emma swung her hips. "I like skipping gym, scaring her, screwing him."

"I like!" 

"Killer clothes," she pinched the hem of her shirt. "Kicking nerds in the nose."

"If you lack the balls, you can go play dolls, let your mama fix you a snack," Emma sneered. "Or you could come with us and smoke and drink with the quarterback."

"Mira, what are you waiting for?" Emma asked. "I am personally inviting you into my candy store. All you need to do is write that little note and prove that you're not a loser."

"Guy's will fall at your feet, do anything for you," Loki leaned against Mira. 

"Yeah, and all you need to do is-!" Angel started, only to be cut off by the diamond girl. 

"Say goodbye to the little bumblebee," Emma finished. "That freak isn't your friend. She would dump you in a heartbeat if she had a chance at popularity."

"'course, if you don't care then run back to her," Loki sneered. "Maybe Sesame Street's on."

"Or forget her and come roll with us," Angel smiled. 

"We can tear up someone's lawn," Emma offered. 

"Darlin', whatcha waiting for?" all three sang. "Welcome to my candy store! Time for you to prove you're not a coward anymore, and step into my candy store!" 

"You could join our clique," Emma explained. 

"Or you could bitch and moan," Loki chimed in. 

"You could live the dream, or you could die alone," she grimly smiled. "You could fly with eagles, or if you'd prefer… keep on testing me, and end up like her!" 

All three pointed to Elizabeth, who ran up to Mira. 

"Mira, look!" she held up the invitation. "Azazle invited me to his homecoming party! This proves that he's thought about me!" 

"Colour me stoked…" Mira forced a smile onto her face. 

"I'm so happy!" Lizzie hugged her childhood friend. 

"Honey, whatchu waitin for-?" Loki sang, only to be cut off by Emma. 

"Shut up, Loki!" she snarled. "Step into my candy store! Time for you to prove you're not a lame-ass anymore and step into my candy store!" 

Mira looked back to Lizzy and Bombus, before stepping forward into the light that seemingly seeped from Emma Frost. She walked into Emma Frost's despicable candy store. 


	20. Dead Girl walking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter will contain the following:  
> *alcohol  
> *slight sexual scenarios (nothing graphic)  
> *some profanity.  
> If you do not like any of these, please be warned. With that being said, enjoy the chapter.

Mira sat with a glass of wine in her hand. She took a sip of the deep plum coloured liquid and sighed. What had she gotten herself into?

Before she knew it, she would be an outcast among many she considered her closest confidants. She would be nothing more than a breathing corpse to them. And it was all that diamond bitch's fault.

"The demon queen of mutants has decreed it," she mumbled to herself. "She says Monday, eight a.m, I'll be deleted…"

Taking another swig from her glass, she scowled at the table. "They'll corner me within a hall, stuff and mount me on the wall."

Looking at the clock, she sighed. "Thirty hours to live. How shall I spend them?"

She slipped the bartender some money and got up. She escaped the dingy bar and fell into the night.

"I don't have to stay and die like cattle… I could change my name and ride up to Seattle," she smiled, but that, sadly, faded from her face. "But I don't own a motorbike…" 

Her brain came up with a miraculous idea in the blink of an eye. "Wait, here's an option that I like… Spend these thirty hours getting freaky!"

There was only one place that she wanted to be, and only one person that she wanted to be with. Her husband. He would give her some solace. Perhaps even moreso than any religion ever could.

"I need it hard, I'm a dead girl walking!" She howled into the night. "I'm in your yard. I'm a dead girl walking!"

She slid the window open and smiled as she saw her love, poured over his desk and working. 

"Before they punch my clock, I'm snapping off your window lock."

"Got no time to knock! I'm a dead girl walking…" she whispered with a grin upon her face and a red hue across her cheeks.

As Mira entered the room, Charles's gaze fell to her's. He dropped his pen and lowered his glasses.

"Mira?" Charles asked as she stepped closer. "What're you doing in my study?"

She pressed a finger to his lips and drew herself close to him.

"Sorry, but I really had to talk to you," she confessed. "See, I've decided I must ride you 'till I break you."

Charles's cheeks flushed up as she slid onto his desk and got close. "'Cause Frost, she says I've got to go," she elaborated. "You're my last meal on death row. So shut your mouth and lose those tight jeans!"

She fell onto his lap and wrapped her legs around his waist. Pulling herself close, she draped her arms around him. "Come on! Tonight, I'm yours. I'm your dead girl walking!" 

As Charles and Mira made their way to their room, full of warmth between each other, Mira's singing continued. She was so happy that the kids were off camping with Raven for the night.

"Get on all fours, kiss this dead girl walking. Let's go, you know the drill."

Charles took off his shirt as she fell back onto their mattress. "I'm hot, and pissed, and on the pill. Bow down to the will of a dead girl walking…"

She was positive - at least seventy five percent so - that she had indeed taken the pill. Of course, in her drunken haze, she may have forgotten, but that didn't matter.

Mira gently put a hand to his cheek as the pair drew closer together. "And you know, it's because you're beautiful you say you're numb inside, but I cant agree."

Charles's gaze slowly averted, but Mira drew him back into the moment. She gently slid his hand onto her hips. 

"So the world's unfair, keep it locked out there. In here it's beautiful," she kissed his cheek and worked her way down his neck, leaving a trail in her wake. "Let's make this beautiful!"

"That works for me-!" Charles was cut off by his wife pressing her lips against his own and pulling him close to her.

From the room below, Hank could hear Mira's every lyric screamed at the top of her lungs. He tried to silence it out, but the girl screamed like a train. God, did he despise these romantic escapades where the two would act like frantic animals in heat.

What he hated more was that he couldn't say anything about it because it was his boss and his co-worker. 

"Full steam ahead!" She howled deeply, causing her words to rattle through the mansion. "Take this dead girl walking!"

"How'd we wind up like this?" Charles asked with a chuckle.

"Let's break the bed, rock this dead girl walking!" 

"I-I think you tore the mattress…" 

Hank's ceiling bumped to a rhythm he knew all too well. It sent shivers down his spine and he sighed. Looking at the clock, he felt as if there was no escape. 

"No sleep tonight for you," she smiled as she pressed her lips to his neck. "Better chug that Mountain Dew."

"Okay, okay…" Charles nodded.

"Get your ass in gear, make this whole town disappear!" She screamed.

"Okay, okay!"

"Slap me, pull my hair!" She growled. "Touch me there and there, and there, but no more talking!"

Oh dear lord, what were they getting up to in there? 

"Love this dead girl walking!"

"Love this dead girl," the two chorused. "Walking! Love this dead girl… yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

"Ow!" Charles groaned deeply as Mira dug her talon-like claws and sharply pointed teeth into his pale shoulders and neck. They stung like the devil, but all that was left after was pleasure that drove him on.

"Yeah!" The two let out one last beastial cry before flopping onto their mattress. 

God, did Hank hate where his bedroom was positioned… he really needed a raise. Or a new room at least. 


	21. Dead Girl walking Reprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a performance of the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters play.

On the center of the stage, Amber sighed. There was one place that she had to go… 

“I wanted someone strong, who could protect me…” she sang. “I let his anger fester and infect me. His solution is a lie. No one here deserves to die, except for me and the monster I created…”

She grabbed her mallet from the side of her bed and headed down the stairs. 

She had her mission, and she would complete it. “Heads up, JD. I'm a dead girl walking. Can't hide from me, I'm a dead girl walking!”

She stormed to the school set. “And there's your final bell,” she sang as the bell rung. “It's one more dance and then farewell, cheek to cheek in hell with a dead girl… Walking.”

She marched straight into the gym, where she saw the pep rally running smoothly. 

“Come on, Westerburg!” Jubilee cheered as she took the role of Heather Macnamara. She was adorned in a bright yellow cheerleader costume. “Here we go, here we go now!”

“Veronica?” Hank asked. “Jason Dean told me that you just committed suicide…”

“Yeah?” Amber asked, slouched slightly. “Well, he's wrong about a lot of things.”

“Oh, I threw together a lovely tribute, especially considering the short notice…” he mused to himself. 

“Mister Flemming, what's under the gym?” Amber asked. 

“Boiler room," Hank shrugged. 

“That's it.”

“Veronica, what's going on?” Hank asked. 

“Got no time to talk,” Amber sang as she ran down the stairs. “I'm a dead girl walking.”

The chorus of students on the bleechers that were set up on stage cheered a sort of anthem. 

“Hey-yo, Westerburg! Tell me what's that sound?” they sang. “Here comes Westerburg, coming to put you in the ground. Go, go Westerburg! Give a great big yell!”

The platoon of pupils marched to the beat of the music played by the band in the pit below the stage. 

“Westerburg will knock you out and send you straight to hell.”

Amber walked up to Peter, who fiddled with something on stage. 

“Step away from the bomb,” Amber gripped her mallet tightly. 

“This little thing?” Peter chuckled as he turned around. “I'd hardly call this a bomb. This is just to trigger the packs of thermals upstairs in the gym. Those are bombs.”

Amber slowly seemed to piece together Peter's plan. She took a step back. 

“People are gonna see the ashes of Westerburg High school and they're gonna think “there's a school that self-destructed not because society doesn't care, but because that school was society”!” Peter snarled. “The only place that Heathers and Marties can get along is in heaven.”

“I wish your mom had been a little stronger. I wish she'd stayed around a little longer,” Amber sang in one last attempt of persuasion. “I wish your dad was good, I wish grownups understood. I wish we'd met before they convinced you life is war. I wish you'd come with me-!”

As soon as she stretched an arm out to him, he snapped back at her. “I wish I had more TNT.”

Upstairs in the gym, students continued their mantra. 

“Hey-yo, Westerburg! Tell me what's that sound?” they seemed to scream out. “Here comes Westerburg, coming to put you in the ground. Go, go Westerburg! Give a great big yell! Westerburg will knock you out and send you straight to-!”


	22. Dying ain't so bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mira after the events of the Cuban beach. She laments over how close she was to losing the most precious thing to her.

Mira held Charles close and sighed. She had almost lost him. How would she manage without him, if he had died in Cuba? How would she be able to run the school without him? 

She gently got up, and made sure that she didn't disturb her fiance's rest. 

Staring out at the moon, she started to sing. “Dying ain't so bad… not if you both go together. Only when one's left behind does it get sad.”

She turned to face Charles one more time. Her face then fell back onto the night sky. “But a short and loving life, that ain't so bad…”

Mira remembered her time in Paris - her childhood, spent tortured in one building for years on end, and then she found her lifeline one night. Charles had been the one to stop her, and to keep her safe. He was the start of her family - her new family.

He was the thing most precious to her - for now, at least. After all, their first child was due in a few months. 

“I only hope to God that I go first,” she prayed to the sky. “I couldn't live on memories, I'm sorry. But I'm not that strong.”

She looked at the ring that Charles had so delicately slipped onto her finger just a few weeks previously. The largest jewel sat in the middle, pride of place. Looking back up to the heavens, she sighed. 

“There are some things in life you can't replace,” she sang. “A love like ours don't happen twice. When all his days are through, mine will be too…”

The moon and stars themselves danced for her within the sky as she poured out her heart. 

“Cause dying ain't so bad, not if you both go together. Only when one's left behind does it get sad,” Her voice trembled as she sang. “But a short, and loving, life… that ain't so bad…”

Charles's eyes opened as he saw her on the balcony as she performed for him her own private concert. 

“I've met boys who talk about farms and horses, and they don't do much for me. I don't need to end up in a rocking-chair,” Her voice became more confident as she continued.

“Seems you get to live your life just once, and if that's how it's gotta be," she smiled widely. "Then I'd rather breathe in life than dusty air!”

Her hands stretched out to the sky as she howled out the lyrics. Charles wheeled closer to her and smiled. He had always loved her singing voice.

“Dying ain't so bad, not if you both go together, only when you're left alone does it get sad…”

Her voice fell from the extreme high. “But a short and loving life… A short and loving life…” her voice wavered. “A short and loving life… That ain't so bad…”

Mira leapt slightly as Charles gently clapped for her from within their bedroom. 

“Bravo, Miss _Parker_ ,” Charles smiled. 

“Why, merci, Monsieur _Barrow_ ,” Mira curtsied in response. 

The two burst out into a fit of laughter and went back into their room. 

The pair soon fell silent. Sensing the tension and nerves between them, Charles cleared his throat gently. 

“Do you know something, Mira?” Charles asked. “I don't know what I would do without you…”


	23. A Monster In Paris

Mira roamed the Parisian streets alone. The winter wind chilled her, but she wasn't concerned. It didn't matter to her anymore. Nothing did. 

"I… I hide my life inside a cloak of night," she sang. "Beneath a red scarf and a chapeau. The pearl of my heart locked within a shell…"

She stared out into the dark sky. "I'm too afraid to let it go, to let it show…" her heart pounded in her chest as she saw her face splattered across newspapers. "And all the headlines read, for the whole world to see: a monster in Paris…"

She was falling apart. She was breaking at the seams. Apparently, she was a cold blooded killer who stalked the streets in the dead of night as she searched for her next victim, when the truth couldn't be further from that. She did appear in the dead of Night, but she wasn't the monster that the fables painted her to be. 

Charles Xavier never expected to hear such a gentle voice echo out in the night. Such a tender, gentle soul think such darkly depressing thoughts. God, he needed to help this poor girl. 

"Apparently I did appear, beneath the light. Yes, it was me. A monster in Paris…"

He sped up on his pursuit. The voice was still going strong, he still had a chance to catch her before it was too late. He could stop them before-! 

"I hide my pain inside a melody, as if the notes I sing will set me free," she howled into the night as her destination drew closer. "I keep all my dreams under a lock and key. I'm so afraid that they will fly away from me."

The bridge was just a few steps away. She was so close. She could do it and nobody would care, not a soul would turn to her and grieve. 

"A monster in Paris…" she sniffed. "A monster in Paris…"

A monster in Paris - that's all she was. That was all she would ever be, wouldn't it? 

She was just about to take her last step and plunge into the depths that lay below her, when a warm hand seemingly grasped her mind. It drew her out of the cold and into a warmth she had never known. 

As her eyes opened, she realised that she was in an expensive hotel room, crying into the chest of a rather fair young man, who held her in his arms like she wasn't a disgusting freak. He gave her a sense of safety that seldom few did. It was as if this man was her new lease of life. He seemed blind to her abnormality. He seemed to look at her and think of beauty. 

"Professor Charles Xavier," he smiled. "Et toi?" 

"Je suis…" she paused for a second. Would she give him a fake name - the very one that she used with her clients- or would he call her by the same name that her mother and father did? "Je suis Miranette."


	24. Why?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Why" from Frankenstein between Lorna Dane and Raven. Just bc.

"But… Peter says that every question must be asked," Lorna pondered aloud. "And I agree. Tell me why does the breeze blow?"

Raven smiled as she followed the young metal bender.

"Why do both the flower and the weed grow, then tell me why do men fight wars," she lay upon the grass and stared up at the sky. "Why does God even care? Why does he listen to our prayers? Doesn't he already know what we're praying for?"

"Curious little girl," Raven sat down beside her ward. "No wonder you're your father's world. Now not an educated woman am I, but I know the hardest questions begin with why."

With that, she tapped the end of Lorna's nose and smiled as the girl sat up. 

"Alright then…" Lorna paused to think of another question. "Tell me how do the birds go? And just how do they get along with bees so?"

"How do you know when you're in love?" Raven asked as she plucked a flower from the grass. 

Lorna gagged at the idea of romance. Raven chuckled and held her surrogate niece close. 

"How do you know just who to trust-?"

"Whom!" Raven corrected.

"How does a justice get so just?" Lorna asked with a tilted head.

"How do we deserve all the things we're dreaming of?" Both chorused as they strolled along the field.

Stopping by the bank of the river, Lorna paused and looked at her reflection.

"Do I really look like my mother?" Lorna asked nervously, unsure of how to touch the topic.

Raven nodded lightly. "You're as inquisitive as your brother."

"Do you like being my auntie?"

"It's a far more challenging job than many," Raven smiled and gave the girl a hug. 

"Why, aunt Raven, do you tease me?"

"I don't know, it seems to please me," Raven shrugged. "Lorna, can't you see through me by now?"

Lorna looked over to her aunt.

"Can't you tell? Haven't you known? I think of you as if my own," Raven smiled to the girl. "You've no greater champion than I."

She smiled as she walked the tired teenaged mutant back home. "Just remember that I love you," she sang gently. "And never question how, or if, or why."


	25. All you wanna do

"Do we  _ really  _ have to do this?" Asked Charles as Erik led him to the bar in question. 

"Well, it  _ is  _ your birthday, after all. You don't turn twenty-two every day," Erik opened the door. "Don't worry. It's called a " _ sophisticated and elegant experience _ ". Besides, it's history themed."

"Oh great… a themed bar."

The joint did look rather nice, if Charles was honest, on the inside. There were wooden beams and tables facing a stage - wait. 

"You'll love it here."

Charles really wasn't so sure about that.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, madames et monsieures, please ready yourselves for the Parisian sweetheart, Miranette as  _ Katherine Howard _ , singing "All you wanna do"!" A voice called out. 

Some girl would probably sing a show tune as men leered at her body. God have mercy…

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, baby… _

"I think we can all agree, I'm the ten amongst these threes…" Mira noted as she waltzed onto the stage. 

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, baby… _

"... and ever since I was a child I'd make the boys go  _ wild! _ " She giggled and twirled her hair as if she had told an amazing joke. "Take my first music teacher, Henry Mannox."

Her eyes scanned the crowd. "I was young, it's true. But even then I knew  _ the only thing you wanna do is… _ "

She blew a kiss to the audience. Several men cheered and whooped as she did so. Charles simply smiled. The girl  _ did  _ have a nice voice. Still, he wasn't absolutely obsessed with it like these men were. 

" _ Broad, dark, sexy Mannox, taught me all about dynamics. He was twenty three _ ," she paused for extra effect. "...  _ and I was thirteen, going on thirty! _ "

She walked across the stage to the other side. " _ We spent hours strumming the lute, striking the chords and… _ " her hands lifted to her face as she mimicked a flute player. " _ Blowing the flute. He plucked my strings all the way to g. Went from major to minor, c to d. _ "

Her eyes glanced across the audience until she fell onto a man a few seats away from Charles. Stepping close, she kneeled down close to his face.

" _ Tell me what you need, what you want. You don't need to plead. Cause I feel the chemistry, _ " she waggled a finger between the two of them. " _ Like I get you and you get me. _ "

The man looked absolutely infatuated with her, as if she was an addictive substance and he an abuser of it. 

She raised herself up. "... _ and maybe this is it. He cares so much, it feels legit. He says we have a connection. I'm sure this guy is different, 'cause… _ "

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe… _

" _ Is touch me, love me, can't get enough-sie _ ," she swung her hips from side to side as she sang.

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe… _

" _ Is please me, squeeze me, birds and the bees me,"  _ Mira threw a fist into the air as she was wholly consumed by the moment. " _ Bite my lip and pull my hair, as you tell me I'm the fairest of the fair. Play time's over. The only thing you wanna do is… _ "

She blew another kiss to the audience and her head fell. She stared at the floor. Then she sighed and rolled her eyes. 

"But then, there was another guy… Francis Durham…" she paused and looked over the audience. 

She walked over to a man, who looked as if he worked at some large company or something.

" _ Serious, stern and slow. Gets what he wants, and he won't take no. Passion in all that he touches,"  _ she smiled as she slid next to him in his seat. " _ The sexy secretary to the dowager duchess. _ "

She put her hand atop his. " _ Helped him in his office, had a duty to fulfil. He even let me use his favourite quill. _ "

She picked a pen up from the desk and slid it behind her ear. " _ Spilled ink all over the parchment. My wrist was so tired. _ "

She gently got up and walked back to the stage. " _ Still, I came back the next day as he required. _ "

She smiled to the audience once more. 

" _ You say I'm all you need; all you want, you don't need to plead, because I feel the chemistry. Like I get you and you get me. _ "

She looked dreamily off into the distance. " _ And I know this is it. He just cares so much, this one's legit. We have a real connection. I'm sure this time is different… cause! _ "

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe… _

"...  _ is touch me, love me, can't get enough-sie. _ "

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe, is _

" _ Please me, _ " Mira swung her hips from side to side. " _ Squeeze me, birds and the bees me. _ "

Mira smirked. " _ You can't wait a second more to get my corset on the floor, _ " she bit her lip. " _ Play time's over. The only thing you wanna do is… _ "

She kissed once more. 

"Yeah, that didn't work out, so I decided to have a break from boys, and you'll never guess who I met!" She excitedly squealed. " _ Tall, large, Henry the eighth. Supreme head of the church of England. _ "

She paused once more. " _ Globally revered, although you wouldn't know it from the look of that beard. _ "

Mira sighed. " _ Made me a lady in waiting, hurled me and my family up in the world. Gave me duties in court and he swears it's true that without me, he doesn't know what he'd do. _ "

She leaned over a table to a guy who looked rather nervous; as if he was being dishonest in being here ( _ after all,  _ Charles thought.  _ His daughter  _ **_was_ ** _ just given braces _ ). 

" _ You see, I'm all you need. All you want. We both agreed this is the place for me. I'm finally where I'm meant to be, _ " she smiled and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "... _ then he starts saying all this stuff. _ "

It was as if the girl had closed herself off, relived a memory of her own. " _ He cares so much, he calls me "love". He says we have this… connection. I guess it's not so different… cause… _ "

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe, is... _

" _ Touch me, love me, can't get enough-sie. _ "

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe, is… _

" _ Sieze me, _ " her fists clenched the microphone; both Charles and Erik noted (and were the only ones to do so). " _ Squeeze me, birds and the bees me. _ "

The girl had some kind of effect over the bar's patrons. That much was obvious to the telepath. Mentally, he slid Erik his plan to help the girl out. 

" _ There's no time for when or how, cause ya just got to have me now! _ " She swung her hips again to the audience of intoxicated men. " _ Play time's over. The only thing you wanna do is… _ "

She sighed and twirled a lock of hair. "So we got married… whoo."

Mira snapped her fingers to the beat. " _ With Henry, it isn't easy. His temper's short and his mates are sleazy. Except for this one courtier. _ "

At the thought of the man, she smiled. " _ He's a really nice guy, just so sincere. The royal life isn't what I planned, but Thomas is there to lend a helping hand. So sweet, makes sure that I'm okay. _ "

She fidgeted with the ring on her finger. " _ And we hang out loads when the king's away. _ "

Finally, the girl had a genuine smile as her eyes caught Charles'. " _ This guy, finally, is what I want. The friend I need. Just mates, no chemistry. I get him and he gets me. _ "

Her joyful facade quickly fell as her eyes glanced away. " _ And there's nothing more to it. He just cares so much, he's devoted. He says we have a… connection. _ "

It was as if Mira slowly started to have a breakdown. " _ I thought this time was different. Why did I think he'd be different? But it's never, ever different… cause… _ "

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe… _

" _ Is touch me, when will enough be enough-sie? _ " She growled to the men in the audience with glazed over eyes. 

_ All you wanna do, all you wanna do, babe, is… _

" _ Squeeze me, don't care if you don't please me. _ "

She glared at them all with venom covering her vision. " _ Bite my lip and pull my hair as you tell me I'm the fairest of the fair! Play time's over… play time's over! _ "

She grasped the microphone tighter as she stalked the stage like a caged beast. " _ The only thing, the only thing… the only thing you wanna do is… _ "

She blew a final kiss as her gaze fell to the floor.

Charles, awestruck by the lady, applauded immediately; he had found the new music teacher for his school. 

Mira, confused by the ovation, simply curtsied and ran off stage. 

Charles hissed to Erik as he got up. "Follow me."

Her dressing room - if it were to be called that - was coated in post cards from France. A knock on the door alerted her from her thoughts. 

"Oui?" Mira asked.

"It's your number one fan!" Charles smiled. 

She opened the door in a fluffy pink dressing gown.

"Well, miss, I suppose that I must say you were rather wonderful tonight."

"Well, thank you, sir. And you are..?" She asked.

"Ah, I am Professor Charles Francis Xavier, and this is my associate, Erik Lehnsherr."

Erik gave Mira a wave.

"We believe you to have the x-gene," Charles explained. 'And we would love you to come to our school so that you may excel with your gift. You can even teach music to the students if you so choose."

"...right. But why take a job when I already have one, here?"

"Would free board and meals in a Westchester mansion not seal the deal?" Erik asked.

Mira paused. "... do you  _ want  _ to know what my mutation is?" 

Charles nodded. Mira sighed.

She locked the door to her room as the two men came in (hopefully, no one would hold any tasteless ideas).

Her skin quickly changed into a heavy coat of fur and her nose elongated into a snout; she was rather animalistic, especially with the tail poking out from her back. 

"Well, this is me."

Charles and Erik nodded.

"Well? If we want to make Westchester, we need to be quick."

Mira smiled as the two men helped her escape from the job she had been stuck in for so long.


End file.
